Retractor



W. J. CAMERON.

RETRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1919.

1,374,984. Patented Apr. 19, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

AW: wild/72f @726/"071;

W. J. CAMERON.

'RETRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10. 1919.

Patented Apr. 19, 192 1.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM J". CAMERON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RETRACTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 19, 1 921.

Application filed September 10, 1919. Serial No. 322,911.

To all whom, it may concern 7 Beit known that I, l vIL-LIAM J. CAMERON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Retractors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked tl1ereon,-wl1ich form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in retractors and consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The retractor shown herein as embodying the novel features of the invention is one primarily intended for use in connection with operations upon parts within the mouth or throat, but as will appear, the improvements are notlimited' to that kind of re tractor.

The several advantages and the specific objects of the inventionwill be pointed out as I proceed with my specification.

In the drawings p Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved retractor, illustrating the same as when applied to a patient, to hold the mouth in an open position, to illuminate the interior thereof and to hold the. tongue of the patient in a depressed position.

Fig. 2 represents a'vertical section through the retractor, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 3.

' Fig. 3 represents a view in frontelevation of the retractor;

Fig. 4: represents a horizontal section through the retractor, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 4.4'of Fig. 3. i

Fig. 5 representaon an enlarged scale,

a detail horizontal section through a part of the retractor. the plane of the sect-ion being indicated by the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 represents on an enlarged scale, a detail vertical section through a part of the retractor, the plane of the section, being indicated by the line 66 ofFig. 2.

' Fig. 7 represents a detail view in front elevation of a slightly modified form ofretractor embodying the invention.

The improved retractor is of a general type now well known. It includes two frame members comprising opposed arms having hooks at their outer ends to engage the parts to be retracted; and connecting bars spaced laterally from the hooks and extending sub? stantially at right angles to'the arms, which bars are capable of longitudinal adjustment,

the one upon the other, to determine thespace between the retracting hooks.-

Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive of the accompanying drawings 10 and 11 indicate the two frame members, in this case, the bottom and top frame members of the retractor. i

The bottom frame member. 10 comprises a. relatively long, upright bar121 having teeth 12 on its outer edge, and a shorter horizontal arm18 whichterminates at its inner end 111 a short, upright plate 14, the top'end of which is bent forwardly and downwardly to provide a hook 14 The top frame membenll comprises a relatively short,'do'wn-' wardly extending bar 16 and a horizontal arm15. The bar 16 is provided with a sleeve 17 that embraces and is capable of a sliding bearing on the upright-bar 12 of the bottom frame member 10. The outer end of the horizontal arm 15 terminates in a de pending plate 18 arranged in the. vertical plane ofthe plate 1 1 and the bottom end of said plate 18 is :bent forwardly and upwardly to form a hook 18 As is apparent, the

hooks 1d" and 18 are oppositely disposed,

with reference to each other. In the outer end of the sleeve 17 is journaled a. spur pinion 17 that meshes with the teethl2 on the arm 12, and said pinion has a butter that shown in my prior Patent No. 1,231,702, 1 will here refer to the same in general terms only and not in'detail; Said detach- -ment includes a forwardlyextending casing orbarrel 21 that carries a light 22 atits front end and a slotted plate 23 at its rear end. The slotted plate 23 which is bent to conform with the curvature of the hook 18, embraces the rear part of said hook, while the main part of said plate rests upon the top surface of said hook. Said plate carries at one end, a contact plug 2% which is adapted to be connected up with a socket 25 on the end of an electric current conducting cord 26 (see Fig. 1.)

Fixed to the rear or outer face of the upright plate 12% of the bottom frame member 10, is a hinge plate or leaf 27. To the top edge of said leaf is hinged the front end of another plate or leaf 28 which swings or tilts in a vertical plane and which normally assumes a substantially horizontal position. The leaf 27 has at its bottom end, a rearwardly extending, rectangular casing 29 that is open at its rear end. Extending vertically through alined openings in the top and bottom walls of this casing, is an adjustment screw 30 which is connected at its top end by a swivel joint 31 to the free end of the leaf 28, the bottom end of said screw having a head 30 by means of which it maybe rotated. In the casing 29 is located a horizontally swinging lever 32 which has a screw threaded'recess 32 (see Fig. 5), that normally engages that part of the screw 30 within the casing 29, so as to provide the necessary screw threaded supporting engagement for said screw. The lever 32 is pivoted at its inner end upon a vertical pin 33 in the casing, and its outer end is bent to provide a thumb piece 32 A flat spring 34 within and fixed to one upright side Wall of the casing 29, engages with said lever and acts to normally hold said lever in threaded engagement with the screw 30. hen the thumb piece 32 is actuated by the thumb of the operator, the screw threaded recess 32 is released from engagement with said screw. As soon as the thumb piece 32 is released, the spring at will return said lever to its normal position wherein the screw threaded recess 32 again engages said screw.

35 indicates a tongue depressor plate which is detachably connected to the leaf 28 in such a manner as to be capable of being longitudinally adjustable thereon and at the same time, is capable of being swung in a horizontal plane about its point of attachment to said leaf 28. As shown, said tongue depressor throughout a greater part of its length, is of a width equaling that of the leaf 28, with which it is associated. The inner end 35 of said tongue depressor is widened out and curved more abruptly to fit the tongue of the patient upon which the retractor is used and its outer end is bent into a hook 35 to provide a convenient grip for theoperator. .In said tongue depressor is provided an elongated key hole slot 36,

the side walls of which have a slight upward and outward bevel, as shown in Figs. a and 6. The said slot terminates at its front end in an enlargement 36.

Carried on the leaf 28 between its connections to the leaf 27 and screw 30 respectively, is an upright, yielding stud 37 which is adapted to extend through the slot 36 in the tongue depressor and provide both the means for frictionally holding the tongue depressor on the leaf 28, and the pivotal means about which said depressor may be swung in a horizontal plane. This stud (see Fig. 6) extends through a hole in the leaf 28 and has heads 37 and 37 at its top and bottom ends and there is a coiled spring 38 which surrounds that part of said stud between the leaf 28 and the bottom head 37*. The top head 37 is of a diameter less than that of the slot enlargement 36, and has tapered sides which are normally held in frictional engagement with the sides of the slot 36. To attach the tongue depressor in place, it is placed upon the leaf 28 with the enlargement 36 surrounding the head 3" of the stud 37 The tongue depressor is then moved inwardly, the head engaging the beveled side walls of the slot in a manner frictionally'holding said depressor in place. To detach the depressor plate from the leaf 28, said depressor is pulled outwardly until the enlargement 36 coincides wi th the head 37, when the tongue depressor may be removed from the said leaf.

Assuming that the retractor is to be used upon a patient for. the purpose of an eX- amination of the mouth and throat, the manner of applying the retractor to said patient and its use thereof after having been applied is as follows:

it-h all the parts inplace upon their respective frame members, the butterfly nut 17 b is rotated to move the horizontal arms 13 and 15 toward each other, until they are close enough together to permit the introduction of the hooks 1 F and 18 into the open mouth of the patient. With the frame members placed on the right hand side of the face of the patient, the inner end of the depressor plate is inserted in the mouthv of the patient and the hooks are then lined up with the anterior teeth of the patient, on the median line of the face. The butterfly nut 17" is actuated to rotate the pinion 17 which by reason of its engagement with the rack teeth 12, causes the hooks 14? and 18 to engage said anteriorteeth. This move ment is continued until the jaws of the patient have been separated to present the desired mouth opening. Should discomfort be caused to the patient, by reason of the too great separation of the jaws, this may be quickly relieved by rotating the butterfly nut in the opposite direction.

With the parts in this position, the tongue depressor 35 (assuming that the same has been attached in place to the leaf 28) may be moved forwardly against the frictional resistance of the head 37 of the stud 37, until the widened-out, inner end 35 of said depressor engages that part of the tongue near the palate.

By turning the adjusting screw 30, the

leaf 28 and with the tongue depressor 35,

is tilted vertically so as to depress the inner end of said tongue depressor to suitably hold the tongue in the position most convenient for the requirements of the surgeon or dentist using the retractor. Should it be desired to shift the inner end of the depressor laterally to engage either side of the tongue, the hooked outer end of the depressor 35 is grasped by the operator and swung horizon tally in the proper direction about the stud 37, as a pivot, until the inner end of'the depressor engages that part of the tongue before determined.

Should this pressure on thetongue tend to gag or otherwise discomfort the patient, the pressure may be instantly relieved by actuating the lever 32 in the casing 29, to disengage the threaded recess 32 from the screw 30. This will permit the depressor to assume a pressure upon the tongue which isconvenient to the patient without gagging.

tongue depressor is grasped by the operator and an outward pull or movementis then imparted thereto until the slot enlargement again coincides with the stud head 37, after which the tongue depressor may be lifted out of engagement with its associated leaf 28.

To replace the depressor plate, it is placed on the leaf with the slot enlargement 56 coinciding with the head 37, after which an inward movement is imparted to the tongue depressor, whereupon the said head will engage the side walls of the slot 36: In Fig. 7 is illustrated a modified form of construction, wherein the leaf 27 is pivotally attached to the plate 1.4 by means of a rivet 40, so that said leaf, together with the leaf Q8 and tongue depressor '35, may be swung about a horizontal -axis, this swinging movement being limited by a second rivet all which is fixed to the plate 14 above the rivet 40,'so as to extend through an arcuate slot 42 inthe leaf 27. By this construction, the tongue depressor maybe caused to depress either side of the tongue of thepatient, so as to hold it away from the teeth of the patient, thus greatly facilitating dental operations. s

It is apparent from the foregoing description, that the retractor asa whole maybe quickly applied in position and without discomfort to the patient, and after having been applied, the tongue depressor may be adjusted vertically and then quickly released by the lever 82 when the occasion demands. Furthermore, the said tongue depressor may be adjusted inwardly or outwardly or laterally in either direction, or may be quickly removed from and applied to the rest of the retractor without disturbing the position of the frame members thereof. a

It is apparent that my improved retractor permits of anadvantageous and illuminated view of the interior of themouth and throat, whether for examination or operation. The light 22 is located in such position as to illuminate the interior of the month without shadows and without discom-, fort to the patient from heat. 1

Y I claim asmy invention:

1. A retractor comprisingin combination,

top and bottom frame members, each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating invertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks,means' providing a vertical adjustment between said horizontal arms, a tongue depressor associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressorconnected to said frame member to tilt'in a vertical plane,*a yielding stud on said supporting member for frictionally holding said depressor, but )ermitting longitudinal adjustment of said depressor with reference to said supporting member, and a screw carried on said frame member for ini- I parting a vertical tilting adjusting movement to said supporting plate.

2vv A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom"-frame members, each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustment between said horizontal arms, a tongue depressor associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressorhinged to said frame member to tilt in a verticalplane, means for imparting vertically tilting movement to said support, and means for detachably connecting said depressor to said supportingplate, said last mentioned means frictionally holding said depressor but permitting a longitudinal adjustment of said depressor with reference to said supporting memberand'alsoa swinging movement of said depressor in a horizontal plane 'irrespective of its longitudinal adjusted posi tion on said supporting member.

3. A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely dis posed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustment between said frame members, a tongue depressor associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressor operatively connected to said frame member to tilt in a vertical plane, an adjusting screw for imparting a tilting, adjustable movement to said supporting member, and means providing a releasable screw threaded engagement for said adjusting screw.

i. A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members, each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustment between said frame members, a tongue depressor associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressor operatively connected to said frame member to tilt in a vertical plane, an adjusting screw for imparting a tilting, adjustable movement to said supporting member, and means carried on said frame normally providing a threaded bearing engagement for said screw, said means being capable of being actuated to release said threaded bearing engagement.

5. A retract-or comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members, each including a horizontal arm. said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustment between said frame members, a tongue depressor associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressor operatively connected to said frame member to tilt in a vertical plane, an adjusting screw for imparting tilting, adjustable movement to said supporting member, anda device carried by said frame and providing a threaded bearing engagement for said screw, said devicebeing manually operable for the purpose of releasing said threaded engagement.

6. A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members, each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means p *oviding a vertical adjustment between said frame members, a tongue depressor associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressor operatively connected to said frame member to tilt in a vertical plane, an adjusting screw for imparting a tilting, adjustable movement to said support, and a pivoted lever normally providing a threaded bearing engagement for said screw, said lever including a thumb piece by means of which it is actuated to release said threaded bearing engagement.

7. A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members, each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustmentbetween said frame members, a tongue depressor having an elongated slot therein associated with the hook on one of said frame members, a supporting member for said depressor operatively connected to said frame member to tilt in a vertical plane, a yielding stud on said supporting member adapted to engage in the slot in said tongue depressor, said Sblld. frictionally holding said tongue depressor so that it may be adjusted inwardly or outwardlyon said supporting plate and at the same timeto swing in a horizontalplane about said stud as a pivot, and an adjusting screw for imparting said vertically tilting movement to said support ing member no matter what the horizontal position of the supporting member may be with reference to the said frame member.

8. A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members, each including a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustment between said frame members, a leaf hinged to the hook of one of said frame members, and adapted to be tilted vertically, a supporting member pivoted to said leaf to swing in a horizontal plane, a yielding stud having a tapered head, on said supporting member, a tongue depressor having an elongated slot therein and through which said stud head projects, to frictionally hold said;

tongue depressor on said supporting plate, a casing carried by said frame, an adjusting screw extending through said casing and 0peratively connected to the leaf to impart a vertically tilting movement thereto, and a device in said casing normally providing a screw threaded bearing engagement for said screw, said device being capable of being actuated to release said screw threaded engagement.

9. A retractor comprising in combination, top and bottom frame members each includ ing a horizontal arm, said arms terminating in vertically alined, oppositely disposed hooks, means providing a vertical adjustment between said frame members, a leaf pivoted to the hook on one of said frame members and adapted for a swinging movement in a plane parallel to said hook, a supporting member hinged to said leaf to be tilted in a verticalplane, a tongue depressor removably attached to said supporting member, an adjusting screw mounted on said frame and operatively connected to said supporting member to impart a vertically tilting movement to said leaf, and means for presence of two witnesses, this 14th day of instantly releasing said screw from threaded August, A. D., 1919.

en agement with that part of the frame with which it has screw threaded engage- WILLIAM CAMERON ment. Witnesses In testimony that I claim the foregoing T. H. ALFREDs,

as my invention, I affix my signature in the D. DARRENOU UIE. 

